Sidbury 30-05-2023
After a successful recce the week before it now came to the actual event, a meet-up with Dave to show him the delights of Sidbury Hill. Unfortunately I arrived a little alter than planned for as for some reason there was a bit of snarly traffic in Amesbury and I got trapped behind a Horse Box from Bulford to Tidworth but no bother we were soon wandering across the gently sloping grasslands from where we’d abandoned the cars. On the walk up to the first ‘hotspot’ the odd Adonis flew amongst many more Common Blues, their vivid colour allowing identification even from a distance and there were the other usual suspects – Dingies and many, many Small Heath. As we left the bone-dry track behind and made our way across the field towards the far corner where the Dukes like to fly the vegetation scratched at my boots from either side of the narrow trackways and when were about half way between the now torn and ex-verdant path and the corner a Large Skipper popped up – my first for the year.
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Once in the corner section we wandered about taking in this and that; a Brown Argus was dominating the usual Duke spot seeing off a Dingy Skipper as we approached it and a Common Blue was flashing about along the path. A small brown/orange butterfly buzzed past and there was a Duke and it looked different to one of the pair that I’d seen previously and added another species to the days tally. Once at the end of the path we entered the shade of the Beech wood and I managed to relocate the Birds Nest Orchids among the White Helleborines. It was quite tricky even though I knew for a fact that they were there and their whereabouts to about a metre but if I hadn’t have done my recce visit we could have walked straight past them as their colour matched almost perfectly the background colour of the leaf litter.
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Once back in the sun we walked across the path to the Springy turf area again there were the usual suspects; Brown Argus, Common Blues, the occasional Adonis and a Dingy Skipper but the Greenstreaks were missing and there weren’t any Small Coppers to brighten up the blue so we pressed on up to the Crossroads. As soon as we reached the top of the rise the Walls were immediately upon us. Even at this time of day they were very active, zooming off along the paths, battling each other and generally juts being boisterous and very annoying in that their antics were nigh on impossible to capture on our cameras. All of this activity must have started to have an effect on them (or possibly they became used to our presence and had worked out that we weren’t much of a threat?) as they started to settle more frequently, down on the track at first but then increasingly in the vegetation. At one point a Red Admiral shot past busy climbing to the top of the hill I’ve no doubt leaving us to continue with our attempts at Wall photography.
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Next on the itinerary was the Ring and so we passed through the gate and into the ring by the old log where the shorter turf seemed to have a had a deleterious effect on the butterfly numbers here. In previous years you’d be greeted by Walls and Grizzlies, Dingies and Small Heath, Marshies and Common Blues. In fact you’d not actually have needed to leave the first little stretch. As it was today the first little stretch saw a Red Admiral (probably the same one that had passed us at the Crossroads), Brown Argus, a Grizzlie and 2 Walls. So we carried on round the bottom of the ring. Things picked up round the first corner as the ‘ring’ is more of an ‘ellipse as this looked less grazed and there were more nectaring opportunities available. There were a few more Brown Argus, nowhere near the number seen during the recce as these must have dispersed, but still more than a singleton. Also flying along the bottom of the ring was an aged Dingy, pale and spectral looking in its dotage, a Common and an Adonis Blue and a few Small Heath. A couple of Small Coppers showed up and also the smallest Common Blue I’d ever seen and a few Walls made a pretence of preaching only for my autofocus, knees or infrared sensor to set them off.
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When we reached the ancient entrance to the fort, a break in the ring, we climbed out and walked across to then climb down into the next section. The view from here is always impressive but today particularly so as the wind played with the tops of the grasses forming waves across the sea ofgreen. The only things missing were so White Horses and the tang of salt in the air and we could have been on the caost. A Wall was hanging around here and playing very hard to get but it out us onto a very fresh Small Copper. The blood orange forewings were blazing in the strong sunshine and it’s behaviour suggested that it was a female, never flying far, wandering around in the vegetation. We left it to its own devices and then carried on in the other side of the ring. The theme of fresh females continued here with a gorgeous female Common Blue that was flying amid the usual suspects. As we entered the more wooded section a Red Admiral was fluttering about and there were plenty of Brown Argus but also a lot of increasingly fresh cow pats so we retreated back round the ring to avoid running into the Highland Cattle that frequent here.
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Our trip back round produced more of the same butterflies but when we got back to the there were a couple of Walls that looked to be courting. The ring on the other side looked more overgrown so we climbed over the log and had a look at this section. Among the taller grasses just past the log we found a Small Copper, Brown Argus, Common Blue but best of all another Duke. I’d heard that they could be found across the entire site but I’d never seen them in this part before. While we were enjoying the Duke and contemplating whether to carry on round one of the Highlanders appeared which put paid to that plan and so we worked our way back and out of the ring. We stayed on our side of the fence and worked back down the hill, hugging the treeline eventually reaching the little valley where we ate our lunch and watched Common Blues and Grizzlies and a Specklie added itself to the tally.
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We then followed the various paths back into the corner and from there set out diagonally across the field. Small Heath and various Blues and Skippers all flew but finally we found a Greenstreak. It was hanging about down low in the vegetation near to one of the clumps of Hawthorn that line the main path. It was quite tired and worn but it was still nice to see. That just left some Marshies and Small Blues to add to the list and so we followed the main paths down the hill and round past the Dew Pond/puddle where a Marshie was just sitting there out in the open. It would have made a fanstastic shot but all too soon it was away and lost somewhere in the jungle of vegetation in the main field. Still it was on the list and so we set off looking for the final species.
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Down at the triangle was where I’d seen the Small Blues on the recce and that’s where they were again this time. They weren’t up for much mud puddling this time but they were showing nicely among the taller grasses. While we were watching these a Marshie also appeared on scene. It made its entrance at the same time as a Wall and whilst this disappeared off into the distance the Marshie hung around and threw a few poses. It seemed like a fitting end to the trip, ending it on a bang and not a whimper and so we strolled back to the car and headed off our separate ways. I drove home with my slight perturbence at the lower numbers countered by the range and also tempered by enjoying such a good day with such great company.
Time to play tour guide
All was where it should have been
The recce paid off
Have a goodun
Wurzel